SC notice to govt panel on Dinakaran petition

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the panel appointed to probe into the allegations of judicial misconduct against Sikkim high court chief justice PD Dinakaran to respond on whether it has exceeded its jurisdiction by framing charges that were not part of the Rajya Sabha motion moved against the beleaguered judge.

A vacation bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice CK Prasad sought the three-member committee’s response after Dinakaran alleged the Rajya Sabha-appointed panel had expanded its ambit of the probe that went beyond what was initially adopted in the motion.

Senior advocate UU Lalit appearing for the panel said he would reply to the petition on Wednesday. The bench would also decide on the maintainability of intervention petition filed by Campaign for Judicial Accountability (CJA) in the case.

Earlier, advocate Amarendra Saran, appearing for Justice Dinakaran, read out letters written by panel member and senior counsel PP Rao to prove the his bias against the Dinakaran.

Rao had written letters to the RS chairman and to the probe committee on April 22, 2011. In his letter to the chairman he wished to ‘recuse forthwith’. However, the letter written to the panel was an explanatory note filed in response to an application moved by Justice Dinakaran, alleging bias.

CJI told Dinakaran to go on leave?The Central Information Commission has directed the SC to make public records, if any, that the then CJI advised the then Karnataka Chief Justice PD Dinakaran to go on leave following allegations of land grabbing against him. The case relates to activist Subhash Agrawal, who had sought to know if the CJI told Dinakaran to go on leave after the allegations surfaced.